Aston Villa had reportedly identified Karl Darlow as the ideal replacement for Sam Johnstone if he moved to West Brom in January.
Eden Hazard may have scored twice past Karl Darlow as Chelsea beat Newcastle United 3-1 on Saturday lunchtime but the Belgian was still more than impressed by the performance of his ‘brilliant’ adversary clad in luminous tangerine.
“I have to say that is a great goalkeeper who saved two great chances,” Hazard, who beat Darlow with a classy panenka penalty to seal the win late on, said in quotes reported by The Chronicle.
It’s less certain, however, whether Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez agrees with Hazard’s effusive praise. After all, Benitez tried to sell Darlow in the summer and only handed him his first Premier League start of the season in the midweek draw with West Brom.
Nonetheless, with Darlow seemingly displacing Rob Elliot for the time being, does his immediate future lie on Tyneside?
It appeared certain that the former Nottingham Forest ‘keeper would be on his way out in January and The Sun claimed that Aston Villa had identified him as the ideal successor to Sam Johnstone.
Manchester United may opt to re-call Johnstone in January and sell him to West Brom. But who better to step up in his place than arguably the Championship’s best goalkeeper in 2016/17, a man to helped Newcastle win the second tier title?
But Villa’s hopes of luring Darlow to Villa Park rest on ‘ifs’ at the moment. After all, if Newcastle sign the big-name, experienced goalkeeper Benitez wants, Darlow will find himself falling down the pecking order again.
As it stands, however, Villa have a much lower chance of signing him now he appears to be ahead of Elliot in the standings.
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